One of the oldest areas in Belgrade, Dorćol (from the Turkish “dort yol” – “four roads/crossroad”) today is a vibrant, creative centre, a district that never sleeps.  

When I’m not in the mood to visit some fashionable bar, concept store or multi-purpose hipster venue in the area, I enjoy chilling out in a tiny park close to Kralja Petra street, looking at the mural “The Clock”.

The mural was created in 2011 under the patronage of the Old City Municipality on the facade of the Mihailo Petrović Alas primary school. Two main elements make up the mural: a wall painting representing a sheet from a notebook within which a working digital clock made out of 20,000 LEDs is placed and accurately displaying the time 24 hours a day (hours, minutes and seconds). The project was executed by some prominent Serbian artists in cooperation with pupils who attended the school at the time.

The clock itself is a symbol of time passing but also of a new, digital era. Whenever I come here, I see kids playing at the swing, grandparents chatting about the old days while students are taking a break between classes. The LEDs next to them, lighting and counting the seconds, constantly remind me to take advantage of the present.

Since Dorćol is one big open-air graffiti arena, check out Nedeljko’s article on interesting murals in Dorćol, especially if you are a sports fan.